Abe's Penny: A Micro-Magazine

Abe's Penny: A Micro-Magazine

Sisters Anna and Tess Knoebel started Abe's Penny
, a micro-magazine, earlier this year as subtle reminder of communication in our pre-digital days, back when receiving a postcard from a friend on holiday was the sole means of keeping tabs on their adventures. More a series of flash cards than an actual magazine, Abe's Penny is a monthly volume of four postcards ($48 for six months) that subscribers receive one by one, every week. Each volume features a pairing of two artists, a series of images on the face coupled with a developing story on the reverse.

A week ago, I received my first card in the mail and have to admit feeling a mild sense of excitement, so I asked Anna a couple more questions about the project.

Where did this idea come from? Tess and I wanted to make something that would resonate without requiring a huge time commitment, or even much effort to enjoy. The postcard comes right to your mailbox so all that's left for you to do is read it. When the next one comes, people go back to the previous ones, so engaging with the work becomes a process, but still doesn't require much time.

What does Abe's Penny signify? We were thinking of Dickens and serials and the Penny Press. We also talked about how, if you pared down a magazine to its core, you're left with images and text, so using the word penny made sense, as money's smallest form. We decided to call it Abe's Penny because it's self-contained and referential, like postcards.